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Retro: Southern Alabama - Monday, January 16, 1967

M

MCarney

Source: TV Guide Southern Alabama edition

By request! Please feel free to add or clarify anything, since I am not familiar with this market.

2 – WDIQ Dozier (Educational)
08:00a Classroom – educational
03:30p Food For Life “What We Eat: Why We Eat It”
04:00p History of Art – lecture; Richard Howard discusses medieval armor
04:30p Musical Kaleidoscope
05:00p What’s New – children; “White Arrow”, the story of a 12-year-old Navajo Indian and his manhood test
05:30p I Hear Music – special guest is Dr. Robert Walton, a student of John Light
06:00p Musical Kaleidoscope
06:30p Today’s Modern Math “Summary-Basic Ideas”
07:00p Animal Tracks – Bob Truitt answers the question, “What Is a Mammal?”
07:30p Alabama’s Resources
08:00p Auburn Concert Hall – Pianist Hubert Liverman performs
08:30p N.E.T Journal “Indonesia – The New Order”
09:30p Aaron Copland – music

3 – WRBL Columbus, GA (CBS/NBC)
06:00a News – John Hodges
06:05a CBS News – Joseph Benti (color)
06:30a News, Weather, Sports
07:00a Rozell Show – variety
08:00a Mister Ed “Ed the Lover”
08:30a Leave It to Beaver
09:00a Candid Camera
09:30a Beverly Hillbillies
10:00a Andy Griffith
10:30a Dick Van Dyke
11:00a Love of Life
11:25a CBS News – Joseph Benti (color)
11:30a Search for Tomorrow
11:45a The Guiding Light
12:00p News, Weather, Sports
12:15p Charles Jones – variety
12:30p As The World Turns
01:00p Password – celebrity guests: the comedy team of Marty Allen and Steve Rossi (color)
01:30p House Party – guest: charm expert Caroline Leonetti Ahmanson (color)
02:00p To Tell The Truth – actor Larry Blyden begins a one-week stint for panelist Orson Bean
02:25p CBS News – Douglas Edwards (color)
02:30p Alabama Inauguration
03:00p Movie “War of the Satellites” 1958
05:00p The Addams Family
05:30p CBS News – Walter Cronkite (color)
06:00p News
06:25p Personal Opinion – Gingell
06:30p Gilligan’s Island (color)
07:00p Mr. Terrific (color)
07:30p Lucille Ball – Lucy babysits a group of chimps (color)
08:00p Andy Griffith – Don Knotts returns as Barney Fife (color)
08:30p Family Affair (color)
09:00p Run For Your Life (color)
10:00p News, Weather, Sports
10:25p Personal Opinion – Gingell
10:30p Movie “The Thrill of Brazil” 1946 – Evelyn Keyes, Keenan Wynn, Ann Miller, Allyn Joslyn

4 – WTVY Dothan(CBS/ABC)
06:45a Morning Show – Petermann
07:05a CBS News – Joseph Benti (color)
07:30a Morning Show – Gaut
08:00a Captain Kangaroo – the Captain discusses our Apollo moon project
09:00a Candid Camera
09:30a Beverly Hillbillies
10:00a Andy Griffith
10:30a Dick Van Dyke
11:00a Love of Life
11:25a CBS News – Joseph Benti (color)
11:30a Search for Tomorrow
11:45a The Guiding Light
12:00p Farm News – Gene Ragan
12:25p Local News – Petermann
12:30p As The World Turns
01:00p Password – celebrity guests: the comedy team of Marty Allen and Steve Rossi (color)
01:30p House Party – guest: charm expert Caroline Leonetti Ahmanson (color)
02:00p To Tell The Truth – actor Larry Blyden begins a one-week stint for panelist Orson Bean
02:25p CBS News – Douglas Edwards (color)
02:30p The Edge of Night
03:00p The Secret Storm
03:30p General Hospital
04:00p Hoppity Hooper – cartoons
04:30p Bugs Bunny – cartoons
05:00p Batman “The Zodiac Crimes” (part 1 of 3 – Joker and Penguin team up; no denotation of color)
05:30p CBS News – Walter Cronkite (color)
06:00p News
06:30p Gilligan’s Island (color)
07:00p Rat Patrol (color)
07:30p Lucille Ball – Lucy babysits a group of chimps (color)
08:00p Andy Griffith – Don Knotts returns as Barney Fife (color)
08:30p Family Affair (color)
09:00p The Big Valley “Boy Into Man” (color)
10:00p The Invaders (debut) – color not denoted

7 – WJHG Panama City, FL (NBC/ABC)
06:25a Tyndall News Review
06:30a Daybusters – Donnell Brookins
07:30a News – Donnell Brookins
07:35a Today (color) (only one hour, 25 min.)
09:00a Reach For the Stars – game (color)
09:25a NBC News – Sander Vanocur (color)
09:30a Concentration – game (color)
10:00a Pat Boone – variety; guests: the comedy team of Dan Rowan and Dick Martin (color)
10:30a Hollywood Squares – guests: Phyllis Diller, James Drury, Ruta Lee and Dennis James (color)
11:00a Jeopardy – game (color)
11:30a Eye Guess – game (color)
11:55a NBC News – Edwin Newman (color)
12:00p Vietnam Report
12:05p Televisit – Ruby Faircloth
12:30p Let’s Make a Deal (color)
12:55p NBC News – Nancy Dickerson (color)
01:00p Days of Our Lives (color)
01:30p The Doctors (color)
02:00p Another World (color)
02:30p You Don’t Say – game; celebrity guests: comedienne Pat Carroll and singer Rusty Draper (color)
03:00p The Match Game – celebrity guests: Rita Moreno and George Segal (color)
03:25p NBC News – Floyd Kalber (color)
03:30p Where the Action Is – music; performers: Jay and the Americans, Don and the Goodtimes
04:00p Cartoons – children
04:30p National Velvet
05:00p Phyllis Diller – delayed from Sat @ 9:30p (no denotation of color)
05:30p News, Weather, Sports
06:00p NBC News – Chet Huntley, David Brinkley (color)
06:30p Northwest Passage “The Hostage” (color)
07:00p I Dream of Jeannie (color)
07:30p Bewitched (color)
08:00p Road West (color)
09:00p Run For Your Life (color)
10:00p The Big Valley – color not denoted
11:00p News, Weather, Sports
11:15p Tonight – Bob Newhart is the guest host (45 minutes)

8 – WSLA Selma (ABC)
01:30p Dream Girl – contest; judges: Rod Serling, Rick Jason and Brian Kelly; fashion narrator: Dana Wynter
01:55p ABC News – Marlene Sanders
02:00p General Hospital
02:30p The Nurses – serial
03:00p Dark Shadows
03:30p Where the Action Is – music; performers: Jay and the Americans, Don and the Goodtimes
04:00p WSLA Presents
04:30p Teens, Tweens – music
05:15p ABC News – Peter Jennings (color)
05:45p News, Weather, Sports,
05:55p Porky Pig – cartoons
06:15p News, Weather
06:25p Dallas County Farm
06:30p Iron Horse “Volcano Wagon” (color)
07:30p Rat Patrol (color)
08:00p Felony Squad “The Night of the Shark” (color)
08:30p Peyton Place – Rachel moves in with the Carsons; Lee shows a sudden interest in Peyton’s welfare (color)
09:00p The Big Valley “Boy Into Man” (color)
10:00p The Big Picture – Army

9 – WTVM Columbus, GA (ABC)
06:00a Today – Scheduled guests: British satirists Donald Swan and Michael Flanders; also a report on the National Boat Show in New York City (color)
08:00a Patsy’s Playhouse – children
09:00a Reach For the Stars – game (color) from NBC
09:25a NBC News – Sander Vanocur (color) from NBC
09:30a Concentration – game (color) from NBC
10:00a Supermarket Sweep
10:30a Dating Game
11:00a Donna Reed
11:30a News, Weather – Chuck Bowe
11:45a Bulletin Board – Walt Mathis
12:00p Ben Casey
01:00p Newlywed Game
01:30p The Doctors (color) from NBC
02:00p General Hospital
02:30p The Nurses
03:00p Dark Shadows
03:30p Where the Action Is – music; performers: Jay and the Americans, Don and the Goodtimes
04:00p Superman
04:30p Dobie Gillis “Like Oh Brother”
05:00p ABC News – Peter Jennings (color)
05:30p News, Weather, Sports
06:00p Rango (debut) – Tim Conway is Rango, a fumbling Texas Ranger (color)
06:30p Iron Horse “Volcano Wagon” (color)
07:30p Rat Patrol (color)
08:00p Felony Squad “The Night of the Shark” (color)
08:30p Peyton Place – Rachel moves in with the Carsons; Lee shows a sudden interest in Peyton’s welfare (color)
09:00p The Big Valley “Boy Into Man” (color)
10:00p News, Weather, Sports
10:30p Tonight – Bob Newhart is guest host (color)

12 – WSFA Montgomery (NBC)
06:00a Today’s Home
06:30a Country Boy Eddie – music
07:00a Today – Scheduled guests: British satirists Donald Swan and Michael Flanders; also a report on the National Boat Show in New York City (color)
09:00a Reach For the Stars – game (color)
09:25a NBC News – Sander Vanocur (color)
09:30a Concentration – game (color)
10:00a Pat Boone – variety; guests: the comedy team of Dan Rowan and Dick Martin (color)
10:30a Hollywood Squares – guests: Phyllis Diller, James Drury, Ruta Lee and Dennis James (color)
11:00a Jeopardy – game (color)
11:30a Eye Guess – game (color)
11:55a NBC News – Edwin Newman (color)
12:00p News, Weather, Sports
12:30p Let’s Make a Deal (color)
12:55p NBC News – Nancy Dickerson (color)
01:00p Days of Our Lives (color)
01:30p The Doctors (color)
02:00p Another World (color)
02:30p You Don’t Say – game; celebrity guests: comedienne Pat Carroll and singer Rusty Draper (color)
03:00p The Match Game – celebrity guests: Rita Moreno and George Segal (color)
03:25p NBC News – Floyd Kalber (color)
03:30p Girl Talk – panel; guests: actress Betty Bruce, musical-comedy performer Sondra Lee and ballet dancer Nora Kovach
04:00p Bugs Bunny – cartoons (color)
04:30p Cheyenne “Trial by Conscience”
05:30p NBC News – Chet Huntley, David Brinkley (color)
06:00p News
06:30p Movie “The Burning Hills” 1956 – Tab Hunter, Natalie Wood
08:30p I Dream of Jeannie (color) – same episode as Ch. 7 @ 7p
09:00p Run for Your Life (color)
10:00p News, Weather, Sports
10:30p Tonight – Bob Newhart is the guest host (color)

20 – WCOV Montgomery (CBS)
07:05a CBS News – Joseph Benti (color)
07:30a Cartoon Playhouse (color)
07:55a Daily Devotional (color)
08:00a Captain Kangaroo – the Captain discusses our Apollo moon project
09:00a Candid Camera
09:30a Beverly Hillbillies
10:00a Andy Griffith
10:30a Dick Van Dyke
11:00a Love of Life
11:25a CBS News – Joseph Benti (color)
11:30a Search for Tomorrow
11:45a The Guiding Light
12:00p News – Fred Thompson (color)
12:10p Market Reports (color)
12:15p Guest Room – Brooks (color)
12:30p As The World Turns
01:00p Password – celebrity guests: the comedy team of Marty Allen and Steve Rossi (color)
01:30p House Party – guest: charm expert Caroline Leonetti Ahmanson (color)
02:00p To Tell The Truth – actor Larry Blyden begins a one-week stint for panelist Orson Bean
02:25p CBS News – Douglas Edwards (color)
02:30p The Edge of Night
03:00p The Secret Storm
03:30p Loretta Young
04:00p Popeye – cartoons (color)
04:30p Wells Fargo “Forty-Four Forty”
05:00p Death Valley Days “Crullers- at Sundown!” (color)
05:30p CBS News – Walter Cronkite (color)
06:00p News – Karl Richards (color)
06:30p Gilligan’s Island (color)
07:00p Mr. Terrific (color)
07:30p Lucille Ball – Lucy babysits a group of chimps (color)
08:00p Andy Griffith – Don Knotts returns as Barney Fife (color)
08:30p Family Affair (color)
09:00p To Tell The Truth – actor Larry Blyden joins panelists Peggy Cass, Tom Poston and Kitty Carlisle; host: Bud Collyer (color)
09:30p I’ve Got a Secret – scheduled guest: comedy writer Woody Allen; panelists: Henry Morgan, Bess Myerson, Bill Cullen and Betsy Palmer; host: Steve Allen (color)
10:00p News, Weather (color)
10:20p Movie “Duel on the Mississippi” 1955 – Lex Barker, Patricia Medina, Craig Stevens

26 – WAIQ Montgomery (Educational)
08:00a Classroom – educational
03:30p Food For Life “What We Eat: Why We Eat It”
04:00p History of Art – lecture; Richard Howard discusses medieval armor
04:30p Musical Kaleidoscope
05:00p What’s New – children; “White Arrow”, the story of a 12-year-old Navajo Indian and his manhood test
05:30p I Hear Music – special guest is Dr. Robert Walton, a student of John Light
06:00p Musical Kaleidoscope
06:30p Today’s Modern Math “Summary-Basic Ideas”
07:00p Animal Tracks – Bob Truitt answers the question, “What Is a Mammal?”
07:30p Alabama’s Resources
08:00p Auburn Concert Hall – Pianist Hubert Liverman performs
08:30p N.E.T Journal “Indonesia – The New Order”
09:30p Aaron Copland – music

32 – WKAB Montgomery (ABC)
08:45a Dixie Digest – educational
09:15a Cartoons – children
09:25a Today’s Thought – religion
09:30a Jack LaLanne – exercise
10:00a Supermarket Sweep
10:30a Dating Game
11:00a Donna Reed
11:30a Father Knows Best
12:00p Ben Casey
01:00p Newlywed Game
01:30p Dream Girl – contest; judges: Rod Serling, Rick Jason and Brian Kelly; fashion narrator: Dana Wynter
01:55p ABC News – Marlene Sanders
02:00p General Hospital
02:30p The Nurses
03:00p Dark Shadows
03:30p Where the Action Is – music; performers: Jay and the Americans, Don and the Goodtimes
04:00p My Little Margie
04:30p Cartoon Festival – children
05:00p ABC News – Peter Jennings (color)
05:30p News, Weather, Sports
06:00p Harrigan and Son “Shall We Dance?”
06:30p Iron Horse “Volcano Wagon” (color)
07:30p Rat Patrol (color)
08:00p Felony Squad “The Night of the Shark” (color)
08:30p Peyton Place – Rachel moves in with the Carsons; Lee shows a sudden interest in Peyton’s welfare (color)
09:00p The Big Valley “Boy Into Man” (color)
10:00p Movie – to be announced
 
Thanks for posting!

Am I the only one who noticed the irony that the only station scheduled to carry the inauguration of Alabama Governor Lurleen Wallace (George's wife) was Channel 3 in Columbus, GA? Of course, Columbus is just across the state line, and a significant part of it and Channel 9's audience was and is located in east Alabama.
 
How come WSLA-8 started their day off at 1:30 PM completely shutting out all of the morning programs on ABC? It also looks like that WSLA didn't have much of a news department only showing local news in 10 minute intervals and also no 10:00 PM news either electing to show what I presume to be either a film or a syndicated program.

If this was the case for weekdays, then what was it for weekends? Surely they didn't preempt the cartoons and American Bandstand on Saturday if indeed their day started off like it was on weekdays at 1:30 PM.
 
Braves2005 said:
How come WSLA-8 started their day off at 1:30 PM completely shutting out all of the morning programs on ABC?
If this was the case for weekdays, then what was it for weekends? Surely they didn't preempt the cartoons and American Bandstand on Saturday if indeed their day started off like it was on weekdays at 1:30 PM.
Click to expand...

Maybe interference issues in the mornings? During its time as an ABC affiliate, WSLA got its feed off-air from WBRC Birmingham.
 
I saw a reference to Phyllis Diller's show; it had just moved to
Friday 8:30 PM (CT) on ABC, paired with Tim Conway's "F Troop"
clone (well, at least it's usually unfavorably compared to "F Troop"
even today) and flop, "Rango," as replacements for Milton Berle. In fact,
in overhauling its Friday lineup, ABC had replaced "12 O'Clock High"
with "The Avengers" at 9 (CT).

I was also surprised to see a station carrying the Pat O'Brien/Roger Perry
sitcom "Harrigan And Son," as I know of only one other station that was
showing it at the time: WNBE (now WCTI)/12 Greenville/New Bern/Washington,
NC. BTW, Roger Perry seems to have a taste for women with dingaling images;
he was married to Jo Anne Worley for many years and last I heard he was married
to Joyce Bulifant, one of the resident females with not-terribly-bright images (Patti
Deutsch is another who comes to mind) who occupied the chair to Richard Dawson's
right (and the viewer's left) on "Match Game."
 
Braves2005 said:
How come WSLA-8 started their day off at 1:30 PM completely shutting out all of the morning programs on ABC? It also looks like that WSLA didn't have much of a news department only showing local news in 10 minute intervals and also no 10:00 PM news either electing to show what I presume to be either a film or a syndicated program.

If this was the case for weekdays, then what was it for weekends? Surely they didn't preempt the cartoons and American Bandstand on Saturday if indeed their day started off like it was on weekdays at 1:30 PM.
Click to expand...

For Saturday 1/14/67 the first show listed was 2:30p - Pro Bowlers Tour. Later that night they aired The Hollywood Palace @ 8:30p, but it was a different episode than channels 9 and 32 ran at the same time. WSLA had Bing Crosby hosting and Dorothy Collins, Charles Aznavour and the Mills Brothers, Skitch Henderson, and Burns and Schreiber as guests, and no color denotation. Channels 9 & 32 had Crosby hosting Senator Everett Dirksen (R-Ill) reading "The Gallant Men", Jimmy Durante, Tim Conway (promoting "Rango"), Edie Adams and a pole climber, in color. The last listing was a movie, "The Dude Goes West", @ 9:30p

On Sunday 1/15, WSLA signed on @ 1p with an NBA game between the Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics. The last program listed was the ABC Sunday Night Movie, "The V.I.P.s" starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor @ 8p.
 
azumanga said:
Braves2005 said:
How come WSLA-8 started their day off at 1:30 PM completely shutting out all of the morning programs on ABC?
Click to expand...
Maybe interference issues in the mornings? During its time as an ABC affiliate, WSLA got its feed off-air from WBRC Birmingham.
Click to expand...
I think it might be that WBRC didn't clear much of ABC's morning schedule in pattern. I can't find a WBRC schedule for spring of 1967, but there's a posting of one from February of 1968.

WBRC ABC*
8:30 Love of Life (CBS db 11:00 AM) not on air yet
9:00 Dating Game (ABC db 10:30 AM) "
9:30 Secret Storm (CBS db 3:00 PM) "
10:00 Fugitive (ABC db noon?) "
10:30 " How's Your Mother In Law
11:00 Bewitched Bewitched
11:30 Mike Douglas Treasure Isle
12:00 " Fugitive
12:30 Treasure Isle (ABC db 11:30) "
1:00 Newlywed Game Newlywed Game

*Best I can determine from affiliates schedule.
I can only surmise that WBRC's '67 schedule was equally unpatterened.

WSEL would have had a lot more slots to fill during the daytime hour--especially if they weren't equipped with a lot of videotape machines.

Here's the full '68 schedule that includes WBRC.
http://radiodiscussions.com/smf/index.php?topic=225959.0
 
Braves2005 said:
How come WSLA-8 started their day off at 1:30 PM completely shutting out all of the morning programs on ABC? It also looks like that WSLA didn't have much of a news department only showing local news in 10 minute intervals and also no 10:00 PM news either electing to show what I presume to be either a film or a syndicated program.
Click to expand...

The WBRC factor could well be part of the reason, but I suspect the biggest would be WSLA's ownership at the time.   From what I've gathered about the first Channel 8, it was little more than a means to an end for the Brennan family (which owned radio stations WVOK/B'ham and WBAM/Mgm.).  What they wanted was to move the station into Montgomery, then "flip" it into a nice payday.   Some of you know the story from most angles, but the Brennans were thwarted by a brick wall called WCOV 20 ... in a combination of the FCC aggressively pushing (and protecting) UHF, AND a Channel 20 exploiting that FCC "bodyguard protection" to its fullest extent.  

Programming on WSLA-TV was the bare required minimum, done on a frayed shoestring, and out of a Jim Walter home (the garage was the news studio).    But less than two years later, said prefab home burned to the ground, leaving just the tower.   At that point, the Brennans realized it was fruitless to fight a (then-)losing battle with WCOV.   Instead of rebuilding, they turned in the license.  

The whole story:
http://www.waka.com/inside-cbs8/history

PS - an amusing aside to receiving the Channel 6/Birmingham signal were those occasions when conditions turned WSLA into a CBS affiliate: the channel 6 they'd receive was instead WCTV out of Thomasville, Ga. (Tallahassee)!

I'm sure this has been discussed elsewhere, but it is new info to some -- and most of us have a life, and don't have time to find haystack needles.  :)

--Russell
 
Russell W. said:
Braves2005 said:
How come WSLA-8 started their day off at 1:30 PM completely shutting out all of the morning programs on ABC? It also looks like that WSLA didn't have much of a news department only showing local news in 10 minute intervals and also no 10:00 PM news either electing to show what I presume to be either a film or a syndicated program.
Click to expand...

The WBRC factor could well be part of the reason, but I suspect the biggest would be WSLA's ownership at the time. From what I've gathered about the first Channel 8, it was little more than a means to an end for the Brennan family (which owned radio stations WVOK/B'ham and WBAM/Mgm.). What they wanted was to move the station into Montgomery, then "flip" it into a nice payday. Some of you know the story from most angles, but the Brennans were thwarted by a brick wall called WCOV 20 ... in a combination of the FCC aggressively pushing (and protecting) UHF, AND a Channel 20 that milked that FCC "bodyguard protection" to its fullest extent.

Programming on WSLA-TV was the bare required minimum, done on a frayed shoestring, and out of a Jim Walter home (the garage was the news studio). But less than two years later, said prefab home burned to the ground, leaving just the tower. At that point, the Brennans realized it was fruitless to fight a (then-)losing battle with WCOV. Instead of rebuilding, they turned in the license.

The whole story:
http://www.waka.com/inside-cbs8/history

PS - an amusing aside to receiving the Channel 6/Birmingham signal were those occasions when conditions turned WSLA into a CBS affiliate: the channel 6 they'd receive was instead WCTV out of Thomasville, Ga. (Tallahassee)!

I'm sure this has been discussed elsewhere, but it is new info to some -- and most of us have a life, and don't have time to find haystack needles. :)

--Russell
Click to expand...

Russell, it's true that most of us "have a life," indeed. That's why there are people like me who don't, and who fritter away precious time exploring trivia like this (!!!)

Yeah, I've seen the WAKA rendition of the WSLA story, as well as the 1980 retrospective clip back when the station was still in Selma and was chomping at the bit for a power increase, while Charles Grisham, who founded Huntsville's WHNT (19) and Columbus, Georgia's WYEA (38, now WLTZ), still ran things. One wonders what the FCC was thinking in the first place back in the Fifties when it assigned channel 8 to Selma instead of Montgomery to start out with. The closest stations on 8, to my determination, were the non-commercial station in Athens, Georgia (that became WGTV, now part of GPB) and in New Orleans (first occupied by pubcaster WYES, later by WVUE). I can't see that putting channel 8 in Montgomery would have made a lot of difference in terms of buffering against outside signals. I suspect the U.S. senators from Alabama at the time (Sparkman and Hill) and the congressman from that particular district had considerable pull on the situation, and it is well known to historians of Alabama that the so-called "Black Belt" region had a disproportionate influence on state politics (and, by extension, its congressional delegation), with its old money and agricultural interests. Selma was the largest city in that part of Alabama, so it was probably a political pay-off to prominent donors.

It always struck me that, before the 1968, WCOV was the main antagonist in the struggle against WSLA's encroachment into the rest of Central Alabama, since WSLA was actually affiliated with ABC, not CBS as WCOV was. (WKAB, now WNCF, on channel 32, was Montgomery's ABC, owned by native Alabamian Cy Bahakel, who years later dropped 32 to buy channel 8 to move it to Montgomery, in a highly ironic climax.) However, the fight took on more intensity when 8 came back in 1973, this time with a primary CBS affiliation.

We also have to remember something else about the original WSLA: it broadcast in a region that likely had one of the smallest percentages of set ownership in the country, given the area's pervasive poverty (still the case today, in fact). Relatively few people watched (probably predominantly better-off whites), and those few didn't have particularly high standards or demands. Those few folks were probably pleased as punch just to have television, period, and the Brennan family knew that. So the Brennans didn't have to do much to make money in that situation, and as observed here, they didn't. During the five-year interregnum between '68 and '73, things probably changed drastically, with more African-American (and poor white) households having brought sets and the longer-term viewers turning mainly to the highly-polished WSFA, which was the Goliath to everyone else's David. In short, more people began tuning in, and they got more sophisticated, meaning that Grisham had to essentially build a new station that had, unlike the original, local color, a professional news department, and some first-run syndie shows in addition to local programming. There is no question that Grisham put a whole lot more money into the '73-'85 incarnation of channel 8 than the Brennans would have ever fooled with.

Also, unlike the Brennans, Grisham sat tight until the winds of political change came to the FCC, and the agency began its long, steady course toward deregulation in the early Eighties. Thus, the Feds finally turned a deaf ear to WCOV, and gave channel 8 the green light to crank up the power on a new stick, enabling it to finally get a signal comparable to WSFA. Then Grisham unloaded the station to Bahakel, who rechristened and built new Montgomery digs for it.

Backtracking to Grisham, he surely learned from the WLBT situation in Mississippi that he couldn't censor national news coverage of civil rights and African-American affairs, something that the original channel 8 did easily via snatching the WBRC signal. This was because of the absence of ABC's nightly newscast, a plus to the almost-entirely segregationist audience of the time. Also, there was no problem in running a stock film whenever ABC broadcast shows felt to be offensive to Southern (chiefly, racial) mores. CBS, of course, wasn't going to allow that, and Grisham himself had cleared almost all CBS programming on his Huntsville station anyway since its 1963 launch. The winds of change also made themselves felt in the hiring of a black sportscaster for the '73 re-start.

Channel 8 is thus one of the surprisingly richest stories that I have encountered for a U.S. commercial TV station. I really can't think of anything comparable to it.
 
I had no idea that WSLA's history was so complicated. I thought it was just another ABC affiliate run on a shoestring, like WMUR or WTEV/WLNE. I also wondered when I was posting from this particular TV Guide how the Civil Rights movement impacted what was seen.
 
rnigma said:
No Mobile stations listed?
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No, sir, Mobile and Pensacola (namely, WEAR-TV, channel 3) were carried in the so-called Gulf Coast edition, which included (I think) Dothan-Panama City (WTVY, WJHG, overlap with South Alabama edition), Mobile-Pensacola (WEAR, WKRG, WALA), Hattiesburg (WDAM) and Biloxi (WLOX) in Mississippi, and the New Orleans Vs (WWL, WDSU, WVUE and maybe WYES). Keep in mind, though, that public outlets in Pensacola (WSRE) and Mississippi (WMAH) had not started up yet at the time of publication.

The areas covered were basically the counties in northwestern Florida, the extreme southwestern corner of Alabama, and the southernmost counties of Mississippi.
 
Maureen Carney takes us back to Southern Alabama on January 16th said:
4 – WTVY Dothan(CBS/ABC)
08:00a Captain Kangaroo – the Captain discusses our Apollo moon project
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I suspect the Captain was joined by Walter Cronkite.

There was probably a reason for this segment airing when it did: As of mid-January, 1967, the first manned flight of the Apollo command module (an eleven-day earth orbital shakedown cruise to have been flown by Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee) was to have been launched in mid-to-late-February, about five weeks hence.

If it and other Apollo missions had gone off without a hitch, the original early 1967 schedule would have had two astronauts landing on the moon around Christmas of that year, which would have been two years ahead of the late President Kennedy's end-of-the-decade deadline.

But just eleven days later, Grissom, White, and Chaffee were killed when a flash fire consumed the interior of their command module on the launch pad during a countdown rehearsal.

Of course, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon July 20th, 1969, a little more than five months before JFK's deadline. Had the Apollo 1 tragedy not happened, there may have been five manned lunar landings by July of 1969, the first, as noted above, would have been at the end of 1967.
 
bpatrick said:
BTW, Roger Perry seems to have a taste for women with dingaling images;
he was married to Jo Anne Worley for many years and last I heard he was married
to Joyce Bulifant, one of the resident females with not-terribly-bright images (Patti
Deutsch is another who comes to mind) who occupied the chair to Richard Dawson's
right (and the viewer's left) on "Match Game."
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...Patti Deutch did not have a "not-terribly-bright image" on Match Game '7x; to the contrary, Deutch's responses were invariably thought of as "too smart for the room." Perhaps you're thinking of Sarah Kennedy ;D ...
 
Russell W. said:
The WBRC factor could well be part of the reason, but I suspect the biggest would be WSLA's ownership at the time. From what I've gathered about the first Channel 8, it was little more than a means to an end for the Brennan family (which owned radio stations WVOK/B'ham and WBAM/Mgm.). What they wanted was to move the station into Montgomery, then "flip" it into a nice payday. Some of you know the story from most angles, but the Brennans were thwarted by a brick wall called WCOV 20 ... in a combination of the FCC aggressively pushing (and protecting) UHF, AND a Channel 20 exploiting that FCC "bodyguard protection" to its fullest extent.
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Did WSLA get any resistance from moving into Montgomery from WSFA/12? Back then, stations could challenge other stations before the FCC if the call letters were similar.
 
WSLA stood for We're SeLmA

WAKA stands for We Are Kicking A-- (At the time of the change WCOV's and WKAB's That Is!)

The calls were changed to keep from being confused with WSFA in Montgomery and to show WCOV and WKAB that you're days of holding us back are now over.

I remember very well when the power was increased at Channel 8.

That was a happy time for us poor folks here in Selma.

This TV station was about to go under.

The power increased saved their bacon.

R.D.P. <><

P.S. Here's a neat little gem I found on YouTube.  This link will take you back to 1985, the first year WAKA became a full powered TV station.  The newly revived Action 8 News is feature here.  Hope you'll enjoy checking it out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puDTidntwCA
 
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